People want stories and that means cultivating a publishing ecosystem where big and small can flourishThis week both the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and the Department of Justice in the US announced investigations into the planned $2.2bn acquisition of the publisher Simon & Schuster by Bertelsmann, which already owns Penguin Random House. The merger, if allowed, would see Bertelsmann have almost one-third of English-language book sales. The move follows a year when a population cocooned at home, reaching for comfort reading, inflated the profits of big publishers. Bloomsbury and Pan Macmillan recently announced that they would be returning furlough payments; HarperCollins did not take them.Many of the UK’s smaller publishers fared rather differently: a Bookseller survey last summer found 60% feared they would cease to exist by autumn. Indies tend not to have the backlists full of household names that, say, a Penguin has; they depend far more on serendipity, on a customer wandering into a shop intending to buy one thing but coming out with something else as well. This happens far less with online shopping; at least one publisher lost up to 90% in sales. Some also found it difficult to qualify for furlough. They took to social media to announce their plight, or to try new selling tactics; some crowdfunded; some received emergency Arts Council England cash. Many were dragged back from the brink, for which we should be grateful. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-03-28 17:25:47 UTC ]
As you may have noticed, Barack Obama has a book out today. It’s a memoir, titled A Promised Land, that runs to more than seven-hundred pages and is still only a first volume—covering the period from Obama’s childhood to the raid, in 2011, that killed Osama bin Laden. Originally, Obama planned... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-11-17 13:29:32 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has signed a multi-book deal with author Alex Brown which will see her published across its HarperFiction and One More Chapter imprints. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-13 04:02:24 UTC ]
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Lesley Lokko is moving from Orion to Pan Macmillan with two “intoxicating” multi-generational novels. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-12 06:30:43 UTC ]
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Pantomime misanthropy is tempered with bursts of sweetness in the secondhand bookseller’s latest dispatches from WigtownThere’s a moment in the first season of the short-lived but influential sitcom Black Books in which an elderly customer appears with a box of attractive old editions of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 09:00:33 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has pre-empted an "irresistible" trilogy based on the hit feminist erotic podcast "Dirty Diana", which stars Demi Moore. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-10 03:03:15 UTC ]
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With most of the British Isles going back into lockdown over the past few weeks, The Bookseller is inviting people from across the trade to share their thoughts and experiences. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-09 01:38:36 UTC ]
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HarperCollins saw global sales increase 13% year on year in the latest quarter, with EBITDA rocketing 45%, partly thanks to a surge in digital spending. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-08 20:58:09 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Children’s Books has signed Noa and the Little Elephant: A Tale of Friendship and Survival, a “poignant” picture book from author and illustrator Michael Foreman, in partnership with the wildlife conservation charity, Tusk. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-08 16:02:51 UTC ]
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As I wrote back in March, the enforced closing of bookshop doors is a terrible story for the editor of The Bookseller to report: it’s a gut-punch, and if you were on social media last Saturday at around 6.30 p.m.—when the Prime Minister announced the decision to shut non-essential retail in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 23:57:12 UTC ]
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Independent publisher and bookseller Jacaranda is to launch an online book festival in December, celebrating a new wave of black British authors. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 08:45:44 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has snapped-up The Hen Weekend, a “killer” new thriller by Lucy Clarke, in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-05 06:45:52 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has announced it will repay almost £700,000 to staff who took a pay cut during the first months of the pandemic, following the publisher's most succesful interim results since 2008. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-03 08:01:03 UTC ]
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In a deal that closed on October 31, Bertelsmann Printing Group USA’s Berryville Graphics division acquired Quad’s book printing plants in Fairfield, Pa., and Martinsburg, W.Va. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Dujiangyan Zhongshuge is the latest bookstore designed by X+Living, and it’s stunning. The very best books transport you to another world, and the most magical bookstores help make that a reality. Chinese bookseller Zhongshuge is renowned for its stunning bookstores, and its latest outpost, in... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-11-02 08:00:34 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has bought a “heart-stopping” historical novel from New York Times bestseller Kate Quinn, following three female code-breakers at Bletchley Park. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-02 05:32:36 UTC ]
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Last spring, Pan Macmillan announced the creation of One Boat, a new sustainability imprint from the team behind Bluebird. Its name references the power of “one—the idea that one person can make a significant impact; and that one changed habit can make a big difference”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-01 23:08:18 UTC ]
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As I mentioned during the summer Bloomsbury has become something of a bellwether publisher for the sector, being the only big trade publisher releasing regular UK-specific financial reports. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-29 14:54:02 UTC ]
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HarperCollins is collaborating with graphic design company Design and Art Direction (D&AD) to find an emerging designer who will create a new brand identity for C S Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-29 10:43:11 UTC ]
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HarperCollins recently reissued Writing Past Dark, by Bonnie Friedman, the classic, bestselling guide to the emotional side of the writer’s life, marking the book’s 25th anniversary. Three decades ago, when Friedman was fresh out of the Iowa Writers Workshop, the New York Times Book Review... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-29 08:48:36 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Christian Publishing announced the hiring of Nekasha Pratt as senior director of marketing at Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction. Additionally, the publisher announced the promotions of four existing staff members to director roles, including Brad Hill, Mark Glesne, Stephanie... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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